Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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201. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the total amount of moneys paid by his Department to external consultants, professional companies or advisers in relation to the jobs action plan in each year since and including 2012; if he will provide in a tabular form the list of those organisations who received money; his Department's procurement policy regarding this work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1142/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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My Department has responsibility for the delivery of a number of actions in the annual Action Plan for Jobs. One such action, in the 2013 Action Plan, was to progress the development of Ireland's National Action Plan on Open Government.  This involved the launch of an Open Data initiative including the establishment of an Open Data Portal to act as the primary source of public sector datasets, in the context of the development of Ireland's membership of the Open Government Partnership.

My Department has paid a total amount of €60,212.15 to external consultants professional companies or advisors in relation to the above action in the Action Plan for Jobs since 2013. There were no other payments to consultants.

Payments in each of the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 were as follows: 

2012

Nil

2013

€25,735.25 was paid to Transparency International, Ireland in respect of a report entitled "Consultation with Civil Society Representatives and Citizens on Ireland's Participation in the Open Government Partnership"

2014

Total Expenditure of €34,476.90 comprised of the following:

€19,188.00 was paid to Insight Centre for Data Analytics, NUI Galway in respect of the development of support materials relating to open data and the development of an alpha open data portal

€15,288.90 was paid to a consortium comprising Insight Centre for Data Analytics, NUI Galway, Derilinx Ltd and Fujitsu for the provision of expert support for the delivery of Ireland's Open Data Initiative

Each of the three contracts was the subject of a competitive tender process.